(ESTACADA) — One simple word sums up Jonathan Metcalf’s life — action.
He was called to service in the U.S. Marine Corps, joining straight out of high school in 2008. It was Metcalf’s first step toward two deployments in Afghanistan as part of the effort to defeat the Taliban and rebuild the war-torn country.
It wasn't an easy road for Metcalf to travel.
High school didn’t come easy to young Metcalf, who says he wasn’t built for the classroom. He liked working with his hands, and as he approached graduation, he knew college was not part of his immediate future. And he wasn’t built for the Air Force either, which brushed him off by telling him to lose weight and try again.
By 2008, the war on terror had dragged on for seven years and “armchair quarterbacks” were dominating the conversation about U.S. involvement. It was then that Metcalf settled on joining the Marines for two reasons: to serve his country and to see for himself what was happening on the battlefield.
“The Marines said, ‘We’ll take you, but you’re gonna lose weight, and we’ll get you there before you can go,” Metcalf recalls. He had lost 25 pounds even before arriving for boot camp. By the time he left boot camp, he had lost a combined 53 pounds.
From the first day of Metcalf’s enlistment, he knew his decision would put him in harm’s way.
“Back then, it was pretty common knowledge — especially going into the Marines — that you would be part of the fighting force,” he said. “You are going to the tip of the spear.”
In Afghanistan, Metcalf served in the Motor Transportation unit of his infantry battalion, performing tasks such as logistics, troop transportation and convoy security. He rode in motor convoys, sometimes as a driver and other times looking down the sights of a machine gun. The vehicles that carried Metcalf and his fellow soldiers were equipped with mine rollers, a device that would set off mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices), hopefully without sidelining trucks or causing injury to the human cargo.
Metcalf completed his two deployments in one piece, though he was part of several incidents involving IEDs. In conversation about his time in Afghanistan, Metcalf does not talk specifically about his injuries or close calls. Instead, he focuses on his fellow soldiers, describing them as American heroes.
“Fighting people, seeing people die, losing your friends — war is not about glory. It’s ugly. It’s painful. It’s dark. It’s heavy. It’s a lot to bear,” Metcalf said. “I’ve seen more than some, less than others. I was involved in things like close air support that rocked you. But I'm all here.”
Metcalf talks in reverent tones about the five soldiers killed during his two deployments. He declines to name them, only referring to them as the “Darkside 5” and saying, “They went out with their boots on fighting as heroes.”
"I believe people owe the respect to do a little research and learn about the heroes for themselves," Metcalf said of his reason for not listing the fallen.
The “Darkside” is a nickname for the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, an infantry battalion in which Metcalf served.
Metcalf’s time in Afghanistan had its lows, but also a few good memories.
“The camaraderie was second to none,” Metcalf said. “You knew you meant something. They are your family.”
In one case, Metcalf talks about a mission with his friend Mike Gilmore (whom he describes as more like a brother). The mission: to package, load and transport pallets of muffins and frozen goods to an airfield for transport to soldiers in remote locations. After arrival at a small base and unloading the cargo, an airlift was canceled. Metcalf and Gilmore were tasked with reloading the pallets onto the semi-trailer.
Awake for 36 hours, that’s when the circus started.
“The pallets came apart, and the truck broke down. And we accidentally ended up dumping an entire load of muffins on the ground.”
A borrowed bulldozer and backhoe came into play in an ill-fated effort to clean up the mess.
“After all was said and done, we spent four hours with the dozer. And at the end of the day, when we turned around, the whole lot glittered from the wrappers and muffins.”
Out of options and with no good explanation for what happened, Metcalf and Gilmore boarded a helicopter flight and hoped nobody noticed what they had left behind.
Twelve years after Metcalf’s discharge, he now calls Estacada home. He and his wife, Courtney, are raising three daughters and one son. And he's putting into practice the lessons he learned in the Marines about service, action and giving back. At the time of this writing, Metcalf was running for election to the Estacada City Council. He also volunteers his time on the coaching staff of the Estacada High School football team.
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